Story+1984-12-17+Atlanta,+GA

´´Alright....how you doing, Atlanta? (crowd cheers) ready for a little road trip? (crowd cheers)....got any gas money?....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Darlington County´´**

´´This is a song for, uh, everybody who´s ever waited for something or somebody that wasn´t ever coming back....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Reason to Believe´´**

´´Thanks, you guys can sit down for a while, we´re gonna be doing a long show so....save your feets till later (chuckles)....this is a song....I guess in, in late 70s I was, I was driving through Phoenix, Arizona and uh....I stopped in this drugstore, I was looking for a book to read and I found, uh, a book called ´Born on the Fourth of July´....by a Vietnam veteran named Ron Kovic....it was, uh, it was his story about coming home....this is a song about coming home....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Shut Out the Light´´**

´´Oh, thank you....this is a song....that uh....I guess everybody has events in their lives, kind of historical events that they mark, that they mark their lives by....and, uh, like I always remember when I was 13, I was in gym class when this kid came running across the field and told us that John Kennedy had been shot....and, like, I can remember the day and the weather, what it felt like....and I remember I was living on this farm when somebody called me up and told me that Elvis had died....and it was kind of hard to understand....how somebody, whose music came along and, and I know when I was a kid, it took away a lot of the loneliness that I felt, you know, sitting home in my room and....here´s good things, good things can run away with you....anyway, this is a song called, called ´Bye Bye Johnny,´ it´s for Elvis, he deserved better than he got....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Johnny Bye Bye´´**

´´(after the singalong) Big Man gotta take over for there (chuckles)....now, this is a song about the passage of time....happens every day, happening right now....and how it plays tricks on you....thank you, Sir....now, everybody´s got some old times (the source tape is missing a part here)....the minute you hit high school....now, some got more old times than others....and when you got enough, eventually you become known as an old-timer....now, I got my share....the Big Man has more than me....but as you can see, he has maintained his youthful beauty....looks like that when he wakes up every morning....I have to spend hours on my hair (chuckles) it´s terrible (chuckles) anyway, this is a song about people coming up to you in the bar when you´re trying to sit there and have a drink and telling you all about how great the old times were in high school....personally I hated high school....I´m still glad I don´t have to do my homework at night....I´ll be a happy man for the rest of my life ´cause I don´t have to do it (chuckles) anyway, come on, boys....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Glory Days´´**

´´Thank you, thank you.....this is a song....I guess....about how hard it is to hold, hold a community together....and uh, I remember when I was a kid, I didn´t feel much a part of the community that I lived in, I couldn´t wait to get out, it seemed like such a small-minded place ....and for a long time I felt like I didn´t really belong to nothing and belong nowhere....but uh, a part of that, I guess, is you get afraid to admit that you belong to something because if you, if you admit that....well, that means you got some responsobility there....and uh.... tonight when you go out into the lobby, you´re gonna see some folks....from the Atlanta Community Foodbank....they´re some people that are out there trying to hold your community together, trying to make it a more decent and a fairer place to live.....what a foodbank does is every year 20 percent of the food that gets produced in America gets thrown away and meanwhile in all of our cities, there´s people that aren´t getting enough to eat, there´s old folks whose social security checks ain´t getting ´em through the month, there´s people who the trickle-down-theory of economics ain´t trickling down to....they serve nursing homes and orphanages and anyplace where somebody is down on their luck and they need a helping hand.....and what they need is is they need your support, they need, if you got a couple of bucks or if you´ve got some time, you can volunteer and work in the warehouse, they need people to help them with deliveries, they need, uh....they don´t get any federal money, they get no money from the government, all the money that they survive on is strictly from the local community - that´s you (chuckles) me too, I guess (chuckles) and.....you know, like, I travel around, I guess in some ways every town, every town´s my town but.... this is....if you can, when you go out there, give ´em a helping hand ´cause they can sure use it, they´d appreciate it and I´d appreciate it and in the end this is your hometown so you gotta fight for it....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´My Hometown´´**

´´When you´re the Boss every day is like Christmas....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Hungry Heart´´**

´´Oh, watch out now ´cause, uh....I´m a roadrunner, honey....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Cadillac Ranch´´**

´´Now, once upon a time....in a land a long ways from here....it was one Christmas.... (....) Well, there I was....I was still in high school.....but I wasn´t doing too good so they sent me down to the guidance counsellor for some guidance (chuckles) I walked, he said ´Mr.Springsteen, what´s the problem here?´....I said ´Well, you see, Sir, it´s like....like I don´t know what I´m gonna do with myself, I don´t know what I wanna be, I got no direction, I don´t know where I´m going with my life and I ain´t got faith, I ain´t got no hope in nothing, you know´....he said ´Well, that´s too big a problem for me, you´re gonna have to go home and talk to your folks´....so I went home....and I went into the kitchen, my father was sitting at the kitchen table, I said ´Dad, Dad, you know, I got something like really important I gotta talk to you about, like I don´t know what I´m doing with myself, I don´t know what I wanna be, I don´t know where I´m going with my life, I need some hope, I need some faith, I need some, uh, I need a date!´...and he just kind of looked at me and said ´Get me another beer out of the icebox´....so that was it....I decided I was gonna end it all, I was gonna hitchhike down to the beach and drown myself....yes, I couldn´t take no more!....it was Christmastime, everybody was running around with their packages, I was feeling like a dog, I got out onto the highway, I started hitchhiking, I got down to Asbury Park....and so I had this fake I.D so I decided that, that before I´d drown myself, I think I´d stop in and have a drink first.....so I stopped in this bar, I went into the men´s room and on the wall it said ´Advice and answer to all problems, big and small, just call this number´ so I wrote the number down, I got a dime and I went outside, put it in the phone booth....the phone rang once and it rang twice, then I heard (Clarence: ´Oh-oh, hello´)....and it was some guy called Clarence He Who Knows All Clemons....and we got talking for a a little while, he said he thought he could solve my problem so he gave me his address, I went over to his house, knocked on the door....we kind of checked each other out for a while....we decided that we´d make a good team, yeah....and now Clarence, he had just been to the gypsy and the gypsy had sold him a map to the secret of the world and he said that if we followed that map that night when the moon was full, at midnight, that we´d find the answer to all our troubles....so that night we got into his Oldsmobile and we started to drive south down Route 9....down through Freehold, New Jersey, down through Lakewood, down through Tom´s River, it started snowing like crazy and then it started raining and then we got hit by a heatwave and then a tornado came up and hit us and then and then and then hailstones as big as grapefruits came bouncing down on the car and then the roof of the car flew off and then the tires went flat and then we cracked the engineblack, the carburetor flew out.....and there we were....parked on the side of this little dirtroad way down in the pines....and Clarence said.....that what we were looking for, according to the map, was just on the other side of those woods....so into the forest we went .....it was dark and scary....we came upon this big shade tree....we could tell it was a shade tree because it had its shades on....and on we went, deeper into the woods, we heard werewolves howling (crowd howls) we heard lions roaring (crowd roars) we heard homicidal cows mooing (crowd moos) we heard mad dogs barking like crazy (crowd barks) now, Big Man, Big Man, you sure there ain´t nothing, you sure there ain´t no wild beasts, I´ve never heard of nobody getting like mauled in New Jersey or nothing, you know....you sure there´s nothing dangerous in the woods? you sure?...I think I hear something behind us, I think I hear something....I think I hear something.....whoooa! and all of a sudden there was this big man-eating bear, except instead of jumping on us and making dinner out of us, he was acting kind of friendly....and he said, he said that he wasn´t mean but he was just lonely, that he´d run away from the circus and he´d been out in these woods for so long that he needed some friends....and that if we´d be his buddies, he´d take us to the man that would solve all our problems....so we said ´Ok´ and off into the woods again we went.....and all of a sudden the clouds pulled away from the moon....and there in the clearing we saw.....Santa Claus!....and that was when we knew that everything would be alright....we stood there in the moonlight....and then....and then....when we touched.....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Growin´ Up´´**

´´I remember there was this spot, it was just off the river, they had this little strip and it was like around the end of the summertime and uh....that´s when I met her....most of the people from up north had gone back home....and.....we started going out and first, you know how it is when you´re first go with somebody, you´re laughing all the time, always having a good time....everything you do is fun and you go out riding....but later on it got, the things that seemed to make her happy once, they didn´t make her happy no more....and I was spending most of my time trying to figure out how to make her happy again and she got to where she wouldn´t, wouldn´t talk very much and she wanted to stay in all the time, she hid my keys so I couldn´t go out at night....and uh....I don´t know what is, sometimes it seems like people, people just expect too much of each other....you meet somebody and you think that they can take away all that loneliness you got inside....when in the end nobody can take away your loneliness....you just hope that you, that you can find somebody somewhere to share it with ....that ain´t so bad....that´s not so bad at all.... (....) Well, that was the night that we left....just packed our stuff up.....we don´t know where we´re going yet but I guess that´ll come in time....but sometimes it seems like time gets running so short on you....like it´s gonna run out on you before you get to do what you wanna do....and that so much gets left behind....so much always gets left behind....that there´s not much you can do....but keep going on.....and just keep searching....and keep going....keep going....keep going.....hoping....that you´re heading home....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Racing in the Street´´**

´´Thank you....thanks....and being that it´s Christmastime, we got an extra present for you tonight, we got Little Steven with us....come on up, Steve....Little Steven!....yeah....are you ready, Sir?....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Two Hearts´´**

´´(beginning of the intro is missing)....I know a lot of you guys waited out all, all night in line for tickets and I want you to know we appreciate it....(?)....and, uh, tonight is exactly, I guess we´re about halfway through our tour, this is our 80th show tonight and, uh....we got a little break coming up after tonight but I just wanna take a minute and thank all the guys in my crew who are responsible for putting all this stuff up every day....I thank them very much..... as....the saying goes ´Nobody, nobody does it better´ so (chuckles)....and, uh, I´d also like to thank you for your support of the Atlanta Community Foodbank....yes....oh.....not much left to say except....one, two, three, four....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Born to Run´´**

´´In the traveling band we got Roy Bittan on the piano....Patti Scialfa on the vocals....Garry W.Tallent on the bass guitar....Mighty Max Weinberg on the drums....Dan Phantom Federici on the organ....Mr.Nils Lofgren on the guitar....Little Steven on the guitar tonight....and last but not least....ladies and gentlemen....living history....the man who rules everything he sees ....the Big Man, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone....oh, we´re going traveling now....all through California....Los Angeles....Phoenix, Arizona....Denver, Colorado....oh.... Birmingham, Alabama....Baton Rouge....Memphis, Tennesee....Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal....until we hit the big number 80 down in Atlanta, Georgia....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, middle of ´´Detroit Medley´´**

´´I can´t go on like this....I´m 35 years old....I can´t, I can´t.....you will now suffer some extreme and unusual punishment....(music starts)....Mr.Bear gonna join us, Santa gonna help us out....the shade tree.... (....) He´s coming now....oh yeah....bringing all his little buddies with him too....oh....is everybody been good down here? (crowd cheers) all year long? (crowd cheers) nobody doing no cheating on their boyfriend or their girlfriend? (crowd: ´No´) alright, come on, boys and girls, here we go....´´
 * 17.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´´Santa Claus Is Coming to Town´´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//